Two out of three WWI medals

The source of these two medals is the same as in this link. 

8992 Norman Allan Patterson was a driver in artillery unit and also the 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column. This is the unit that his included in the naming of his medals. Norman was pretty easy to follow through the electoral rolls until his death in 1949. 

Then there was a big gap in the records until I came across Norman's name in a Ancestry family tree. I sent the tree owner a message and today I spoke to Norman's grand daughter. This is Nicole who is planning to visit Canberra in the near future. The plan is to meet up so I hand these direct to Nicole. Unfortunately, the Victory Medal which should be with this group is missing. 

Thanks again to Marg who sent the medals to me.

The returned medal tally is now 2805.

  

WWII trio

Last month a social media post about two sets of medals found in the wall of a house being renovated got quite a bit of attention. The medals were handed to Marg W who is a medal mounter and posted a request for information. Marg was referred to me by several people including my long term research friend Sandra.

I received the medals from Marg last week and had a serious look at one of the medal groups last night. The soldier is VX71176 Alfred James Mahon. Alfred was pretty easy to follow through the electoral rolls until his death in 1990. I found Alfred on an Ancestry family tree but the account hadn't been recently been accessed so cast the net a bit wider and found a person by the same name on Messenger. 10 minutes later I was having a conversation with a family member who confirmed all the connections I made assumptions about.

The returned medal tally is now 2803.  

Defence Long Service Medal

There is quite a bit of a story about how the medal came to me. These are details I don't usually get. This Defence Long Service Medal was forwarded to me by Wendy G, the Office Manager of the Wagga Wagga RSL sub-branch after it had been handed in.

It took a bit of effort to work out who the soldier is just based on initials and a surname but I got there after a few hours combing through electoral rolls and family trees. The owner of one Ancestry tree is the aunt of this soldier and kindly provided me an email address. 

I've now been in contact with DB and found out that their residence, not far from Wagga Wagga, has been burgled a few time in recent years and this obviously was taken. Then it was handed in and came to me. Very soon I'll send this medal home. 

The returned medal tally is now 2800.

WWII Australian Army Nursing Service

There are a couple of things which surprised me when I first looked at this medal. 

Firstly, the medal is not named. In most cases WWII medals awarded to Australians, unlike those awarded to British soldiers, are named. There are plenty of examples on this blog. However, there are always exceptions and the odd Australian WWII medal was issued un-named as is the case with this Pacific Star.

How I know who received this medal is due to it being with a slip of paper noting who the recipient was. In this case to QX6277 DM Tomlins. Then came the second surprise. This is Captain Daphne May Tomlins, Australian Army Nursing Service. I would have expected her service number to be QFX noting a female but there seems to be a bit of confusion. As can be seen in Daphne's service record there are several manuscript amendments and the 'F' is added into the service number.

Daphne didn't marry and died in 1994. I was able to put together a family tree and follow her siblings through the electoral rolls. However, finding a member of the current generation proved a challenge. This family has used the same first and middle names through a few generations and I made a couple of calculated guesses which bought me to a gentleman I suspected to be Daphne's nephew. I fired off an email and today spoke to this nephew who just happens to live in Canberra. In the near future we will meet up and I will be able to personally hand back Daphne's Pacific Star.

I must thank Donna from Defence Honours and Awards who forwarded the medal to me after is was handed in. It arrived yesterday so this whole search was resolved in less that 12 hours.

The returned medal tally is now 2799.